Video: Sharpening with the Emboss filter

I've saved my changes as Camera shake corrections.psd found inside the 15_sharpen folder and in this exercise I'm going to show you a different way to account for camera shake that might turn out to be more successful for you, you might get less noise out of the effect depending on your image using the Emboss Filter. So, for starters here, I'm going to turn off the SS motion blur layer, and I'm going to click on this Emboss overlay layer right there, and I'm going to turn it on in order to regain access to the original version of my image, albeit relegated to an independent layer and this is the way you want work.

Photoshop CS5 One-on-One: Advanced, the second part of the popular and comprehensive series, updated for CS5, follows internationally renowned Photoshop guru Deke McClelland as he dives into the workings of Photoshop. He explores such digital-age wonders as the Levels and Curves commands, edge-detection filters, advanced compositing techniques, vector-based text, the Liquify filter, and Camera Raw. Deke also teaches tried-and-true methods for sharpening details, smoothing over wrinkles and imperfections, and enhancing colors without harming the original image. Exercise files accompany the course.

Sharpening with the Emboss filter

I've saved my changes as Camera shake corrections.psd found inside the15_sharpen folder and in this exercise I'm going to show you a different wayto account for camera shake that might turn out to be more successful for you,you might get less noise out of the effect depending on your image using the Emboss Filter.So, for starters here, I'm going to turn off the SS motion blur layer, and I'mgoing to click on this Emboss overlay layer right there, and I'm going to turnit on in order to regain access to the original version of my image, albeitrelegated to an independent layer and this is the way you want work.

By the way this just gives you more flexibility as opposed to applying thecommand and then fading it using the Fade command under the Edit menu.Then go up to the Filter menu and choose the Stylize command, so we're not evengoing for sharpen this time around, and I want you to choose Emboss.Now, on the face of it, you look at this effect right here and you wouldn'tthink in a million years it has anything to do with sharpening.In fact, what it does is it goes ahead and in case this is freeze in carbonite,you may recall what happened to Han Solo in Empire Strikes Back, and that's whatthis filter more than anything simulates in so far as I can tell.

And what it's really doing is it's taking one version of the image and it'sinverting it and then it's overlaying it on top of another version of the imageat 50% Opacity level and then it's offsetting the two away from each other.But let me just show you what I'm talking about.I'll cancel out of here for a second.Let's say I were to create a copy of this layer;I'll press Ctrl+Alt+J or Command+Option+J and I'll just call it copy invert likeso, and I'll click OK in order accept that modification.Then I'll go up to the Image menu and I'll choose Adjustments and I'll chooseInvert or I could press Ctrl+I, Command+I on the Mac to invert that affect.

Now, let's reduce the Opacity value to 50%, like so.They cancel each other out.So the inverted version cancels out the original version at 50% Opacity.But if I were to now switch to my Move tool so that I can move the layer and Iwere to press the arrow keys in order to nudge that image around, so I'mpressing the Up Arrow key three times and then the Right Arrow key threetimes, then I get that exact same effect that we were seeing a moment agoinside the Emboss Filter.

So that's all that's going on, this is how the Filter works and it creates akind of embossed effect, I guess we're stamping the image in metal is the idea.Anyway, let's go ahead and turn that off, I just want you to see that some ofthese filters are very simple in terms of what they can accomplish.But in terms of how you might employ that effect, well, I guess that makesyou the powerful one.So, I'll go ahead and click on Emboss Overlay once again.Let's go back to the Filter menu, choose Stylize, and choose Emboss, and we'repretty much seeing an exaggerated and enhanced version of the effect weapplied just a moment ago.

But here is what I want to do, I want you to set this Angle value to the Angleof the movement, which could either be positive 90 degrees or negative 90degrees, either one, but I want this kind of under-lighting effect, so I'm goingto set my Angle to negative 90 degrees.Then I'm going to set my Height value to half of what I was using for Radiusinside the Smart Sharpen dialog box.So, I had figured out that a Radius of 4 worked out well combined with Removeset to Motion Blur inside Smart Sharpen.So, I'll divide 4 into half to get a Height of 2 pixels here, and then I'll goahead and raise that Amount value to the same amount we applied in the previousexercise, 500% which is also the maximum setting incidentally for the EmbossFilter and I'll click OK.

So obviously we're going too far with this filtered effect, that's all right.Now then we have all this gray inside of this layer, I mean you're looking atit and thinking, how in the world is this going to get us anywhere close to a sharpening effect?Well, you can drop out the grays by applying one of the contrast Blend modes.So, click on the Normal option in the top-left corner of the Layers panel andyour contrast modes range from Overlay down to Hard Mix.Now the ones you'll apply in a regular basis range from Overlay to LinearLight, as we'll see, but your default setting, the one to apply when in doubt is Overlay.

Just go ahead and apply that setting, see how it works out and notice we dropout the grays, we keep the Highlights, we keep the Shadows, so that we keepthose bright and dark halos that are mixing in with the underlying image.So, if I go ahead and turn this layer off, you can see this is theoriginal camera shake version of the image, and if I turn this layer on,we see the corrected version.Now obviously we're going too far with the modifications, so I'm going to pressthe 5 key to reduce the Opacity value here to 50%.So this is the original uncorrected version of the image here, we're seeing itwhen I turn Emboss overlay off and this is the Emboss corrected version.

Let's go ahead and compare that to the SS motion blur version, I'll drag it upabove Emboss overlay, turn it on and you can see that it is a noisier effect.Now, here is the trade off, even though Emboss is giving us a less noisy effect,it also has a few aberrant colors going on.So notice those weird colors that we're seeing inside of that Emboss overlay layer.Wouldn't it be a good idea to get rid of those, and yes, indeed it would.So, let's go ahead and switch to Emboss overlay, I'm going to switch that Blendmode from Overlay back to Normal and I'm going to restore the Opacity value backto 100%, so that we can see that's the culprit, all those weird colors thatwe're saying inside this layer, that's what's causing the problem.

Let's get rid of those by making sure Emboss overlay is active;then go up to the Image menu, choose Adjustments and go ahead and choose thiscommand down here, Desaturate, and that will get rid of all the colors on thelayer, so that we have nothing but gray values as you see now.All right, now let's apply those same settings once again.So, switch from Normal to Overlay, then press the Escape key, so that Blend modeis no longer active here on the PC, not an issue on a Mac, and press the 5 keyin order to reduce the Opacity value to 50% and now we have a valid comparison.

Here is the SS motion blur version of the image, a little noisier as you cansee, a little bit of a more high-impact effect as well.If I turn that layer off, this is the Emboss overlay version of the correction.All right, I'm going to go ahead and zoom out so that we can see the finalcorrected version of the image right here.Choose your poise in either way Smart Sharpen might work better with some images;Emboss is going to work better for others.In the next exercise, I'm going to show you have to sharpen an image usingthe High Pass Filter.

Learn by watching, listening, and doing, Exercise files are the same files the author uses in the course, so you can download them and follow along Premium memberships include access to all exercise files in the library.

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Learn by watching, listening, and doing! Exercise files are the same files the author uses in the course, so you can download them and follow along. Exercise files are available with all Premium memberships.
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